The following is a letter by Mr Vincent Law which was sent to Mediacorp Press in September. The letter was rejected for publication.
Notwithstanding the Government's appreciation of the Catholic Church's contribution towards religious harmony in Singapore, the MHA's [Ministry for Home Affairs] statement on Archbishop Nicholas Chia's comments on 20 September 2012 is remarkable both in its defense of the Archbishop's action and rebuke of a political group and hence controversial.
As if the Archbishop's reason for retracting an as yet undisclosed content of a letter to Function8 that it "may inadvertently harm the social harmony in Singapore" is not contentious enough, the MHA seems to complicate the whole saga further with its swift rejoinder.
While the content of the MHA's statement adds nothing new, what is surprising is the stance it appears to adopt by taking upon itself the apparent insult of being disrespected on behalf of the Archbishop when the latter has not even mentioned anything like that at all.
It is surprising how the MHA's statement is akin to what a Catholic Church Council might make to protect the honour and reputation of His Grace and then follow it up with a rebuke to the recalcitrant for attempting to drag the Church into sensitive matters of a political nature.
This statement would not be unusual if it was made by the Church Council. By doing so, one wonders if the MHA is keeping religion and politics separate? Or, has the MHA overstepped its boundary unwittingly by assuming an ecclesiastical representation it should not have done?